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Although I have been to many awesome places in this world, I also seem destined to travel to the same places over and over again. My brother lived in Germany several years ago, and my father graciously sent me over there every summer and winter for three years. While I did travel some (France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Holland), I also spent most of my time in the same small town in Germany and never went to Berlin or Munich or even a concentration camp. I did visit Anne Frank’s hiding place and was surprised the Nazis didn’t notice it earlier (it was a sizable portion of the house).

So, despite my earlier post, I am going to go to California in May. I was looking at ticket prices Friday night, and they were so cheap I couldn’t not go. So Dave, Walt and I have plans. However, they only include the crazy city of Los Angeles. I used to live in a small town outside of LA when I was a little babe (my first memories take place in Claremont, CA). I visited a friend in LA in high school. In college my boyfriend moved out there and I visited him several times. The last time I was in California I stopped in LA. I have never been to San Francisco. I used up all my rewards points for these tickets (which took me six years to build up), but if the tickets are ever that cheap again next year, Dave and I are going to SF. And wine country. It will happen.

I’m actually pretty excited about it because based on our current travel plans for this year, little boy will be able to dip his toes into the Atlantic Ocean (Ponte Vedra Beach), the Gulf (Longboat Key, FL), and the Pacific Ocean. That is pretty cool, even if he won’t remember it. I’ll put it in his baby book so he knows how awesome and brave his parents are for wanting to travel with an infant, albeit the cutest one I know. I think that will help on the long airplane ride out west. I just decided to go for the craziness because I don’t want to live with any regrets. I don’t want to stay at home because it’s easy and I am afraid to mess up his routine. He’s a human. He’ll adapt.

Last night we took him out to a restaurant for dinner for the first time ever. And I have to say it was a success. We went to Jalisco Mexican Restaurant, which is probably the perfect place because it is such a family restaurant. It was loud enough so you couldn’t really hear Walt when he got bored and whined a bit. But he didn’t even whine that much. He played in our arms, drank water from a cup, and threw his toys across the restaurant. And of course, his favorite toys, the rings, got stuck in between the booth and the wall. I tried very hard to get it out but I couldn’t get my hand in there at all, so we had to ask the nice people behind us to get up so we could move the booth out and retrieve the toy. I am not losing those things! We should have filmed the escapade, my mother-in-law and our family friend laughing at me the whole time. And my mother-in-law was the doctor who delivered the babies for the lady behind us! Small world. You are drawn to the same places, and you run into the same people you know.

I have visions of being more nomadic, losing my attachment to all our stuff, selling the house, and traveling the world with my husband and son. But then again, I do love sitting in front of the fire on Friday night, baby in bed, TV on, a puzzle on the coffee table, and getting to sleep before midnight. I look forward to all the roles I am here to play, because I know there is so much more ahead of us.